Patriot Pyro Review

Introduction:

If you were to go outside and ask any random person, let's say between the ages of 4 and 18, if they like fire, chances are they'd respond by saying, "Yes, I'm a pyro." These people obviously can't all have the same mental illness of pyromania, but the joy of playing with fire is something many human beings share. An example of this, at least to some degree, is Patriot Memory. I say this partly because of Patriot's Wildfire SATA III and Inferno SATA II SSDs, and partly because of the release of its newest SSD, the Patriot Pyro. Like many of the SSD releases we've seen recently, the Patriot Pyro is a SATA III 6Gb/s drive that uses the SandForce SF-2281 controller. For this reason, the drive should share the same 500MB+ read and write speeds. Despite the drive's SATA III interface, it is still backwards compatible with the more common SATA II interface. The drive also features DuraClass, DuraWrite, and TRIM technologies. Today we'll be taking a look at Patriot's 120GB version of the Pyro, which can be had for $209. 60GB and 240GB models are also available. With so many SSDs currently available all sharing the same SF-2281 controller, what makes the Patriot Pyro the drive to buy? Well that's easy — Patriot Memory hopes to have positioned the Pyro at a price point that will give the user the best price/performance ratio. As for whether or not this is true, well, let's put this drive to the test and find out!

Closer Look:

The Patriot Pyro's packaging uses a black and orange color scheme, similar to the packaging found on the Torqx. The packaging has a window located directly in the center that gives us our first glimpse of the Pyro SSD. To the left of the drive, the packaging highlights its MLC Architecture, SATA III interface, and 2.5" form factor. The very top of the packaging features the Pyro SATA III logo, while the Patriot logo is located on the bottom right corner. Flipping the drive over reveals some highlighted features in a few different languages. These include the drive's silent operation, low power consumption, and shock/vibration resistance.

Opening the box reveals the Patriot Pyro in a secondary clamshell packaging. Unlike many newer SSDs, the Patriot Pyro doesn't come with any extras other than the user's manual. Opening the manual up reveals a quick installation guide, as well as some more of the drive's features. While it's not the most important accessory, I would have liked to see an included 3.5" adapter.

Now that we've removed the Patriot Pyro from its packaging, let's take a closer look at the drive and its insides!